We were up fairly early to join a tour with Mary Gibbons.
We traveled by bus to Newgrange. It was our first glimpse of the
Irish countryside. Mary gave a constant commentary. Maybe a little too
constant. She tended to repeat herself.

As we approached Newgrange, the road was flooded from
heavy rains overnight. The bus got through, but went very slowly through
the water. We warned the driver of a small car on the other side of the
flooded stretch not to try it.

This is a good time to touch on the weather. The highs
in Ireland were in the mid to upper 60s every day and it rained part of
every day. Not hard rain, but the longest stretch I recall without some
rain was about 6 hours. We mostly ignored the rain and just continued what
we were doing. This was normal weather for Ireland. It is a temperate island
and the temperatures only break into the upper 80s once or twice a decade.

The winters are also temperate with coastal areas only
getting frost only a few times a year.

Getting back to the trip, this day was spent in the Boyne
Valley, which is about an hour north of Dublin. It was settled about 4,000
BC and there are many prehistoric structures. Much of the region was part
of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

There are historic and prehistoric ruins though much of
the valley, but the biggest stop of our tour was Newgrange, a stone passage
tomb built in 5,200 BC. The stone walled earth mound is over an acre in
size and our tour included entering the 62' long passage where light only
reaches at sunrise near the winter solstice. After we had a chance to see
the prehistoric art and the 19th century graffiti in the end chamber, the
lights were turned off and the dawn solstice light entering the chamber
through the lintel window box was simulated.